Abstract

The purpose of the study is to investigate the importance of substance for the disclosure of ontological evidence. The methodology is inspired by Gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy and involves clinical application research using a deductive approach. This means that leaders in a clinical context were taught and participated in a discussion about a theoretical model of leadership with caring science and ontological substance. The result shows that the leaders’ attention and focus were primarily directed toward administration, finances, and outer structures. Caring science and ontological substance contributed toward disclosing ontological evidence, and leadership emerged as caring, love, inner responsibility, guilt, and vulnerability. In this study, substance has been combined with teaching and group discussion as a methodical approach. Substance is the guiding issue and has been shown to lead to truth. The method is in a true sense nothing without substance.